


The Shooting

by Shaenequa



Category: The Streets of San Francisco
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-01-27
Updated: 2020-01-27
Packaged: 2021-02-27 05:33:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 20,884
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22441870
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Shaenequa/pseuds/Shaenequa
Summary: Yelling at the figure to drop his weapon, Mike only had enough time to fire his own gun when the dark figure spun around, the dim light reflecting off the metal barrel of the gun that he held in his hand. The impact of Mike's bullet threw the figure backwards onto the tracks where the figure crashed, heavily, onto his back and did not move.
Comments: 2
Kudos: 2





	The Shooting

* * *

**Chapter 1**

* * *

"Steve!"

Mike saw his partner look back over his shoulder just long enough to see him point in the direction that Edwards had disappeared before Steve changed direction and ran towards the steps leading down to the partially built subway that ran below the city. Veering to the right, Mike headed to the other set of stairs. With his gun drawn Mike cautiously descended the stairs before hearing the sound of running feet reverberating through the semi-darkness as he reached the subway platform.

Pausing a heartbeat, Mike carefully peered around the corner of the partially built platform. Several bullets suddenly ricocheted against the wall only inches from his head, spraying his face with several small slivers of cement and causing him to duck back behind the safety of the cement wall. Clutching his gun, a little tighter, he heard Steve yell, "Hold it, Edwards!"

Stepping out from the stairway, he begun to run in the direction of the two sets of running footsteps along the rail tracks as they faded into the darkness of the tunnel. Jumping down onto the track, he stumbled but caught himself before he followed the two dark figures that he could just make out in the poorly lit the tunnel into which Steve had chased Edwards.

Following as quickly as he could, Mike heard Steve shout again for Edwards to drop his weapon before he heard the distinct sounds of a violent scuffle somewhere ahead. Suddenly two gunshots rang out, echoing through the tunnel. With an extra burst of speed, Mike rounded the curve in the tunnel and stopped when, in the small sliver of light given off by the small guidance light located in the ceiling above, he could make out the dark shape of someone laying, motionless, on the ground as a second figure crouched above them with what appeared to be a gun in his hand.

Yelling at the figure to drop his weapon, Mike only had enough time to fire his own gun when the dark figure spun around, the dim light reflecting off the metal barrel of the gun that he held in his hand. The impact of Mike's bullet threw the figure backwards onto the tracks where the figure crashed, heavily, onto his back and did not move.

Quickly crossing the few steps that separated them with his gun still trained on the unmoving suspect's chest, Mike leaned down to grab the gun from the suspect's lax hand. He momentarily froze with shock when he saw the suspect's face in the dim light before his eyes drifted across to the second body which was staring back at him with sightless eyes, only feet away, in the semidarkness before he looked back in horror and disbelief at the man he had just shot.

Dropping his own weapon to the ground, Mike dropped to his knees as he quickly felt for a pulse. He held his breath until he was certain he felt the weak, regular thump under his fingertips. Quickly reaching into his pocket, he pulled out his handkerchief and pressed it, with a shaking hand, against the small bloody hole in his unconscious partner's upper chest as he whispered, desperately, "Oh God, what have I done? ... Steve?... Steve?... Can you hear me, Buddy boy?...Steve?"

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

Stepping across to where the body was laying as his partner hurried across to speak to the uniformed officers, Ray Vernon glanced around the now brightly lit tunnel. He paused and watched as one of the lab guys carefully maneuvered his tweezers into a small hole in the wall, just opposite of where he was standing before extracting the remains of what appeared to be a bullet and dropping it into a small plastic evidence bag.

Looking back at the body, he ignored the flash of the camera as the police photographer took photos of the discarded gun that lay near the body's outstretched hand as he knelt down beside the coroner and asked, "What have we got, Bernie?"

"He was killed by a single gunshot round, fired at close range, very close range, to the chest. There's gunshot powder stippling and burn marks around the entry wound. It entered the front of his chest, probably hit his heart on the way through before exiting out of the center of his back," the coroner told the IA officer as he dropped the sheet back over the body and nodded at his attendants that they could now remove the body, "I suspect that he was dead before he even hit the ground but I will be able to tell you more when I do the autopsy." Bernie continued as they rose to their feet, tilting his head in the general direction of the wall that Ray had just watched one of the lab guys remove the bullet, "I'm willing to bet the bullet the lab guys just dug out of the wall over there is the same one that killed him."

Ray nodded, "Thanks Bernie, Lou's gunna want the autopsy report on his desk as fast as you can."

"Of course," the coroner grumbled distractedly as he supervised the transfer of the body into the body bag.

Turning around, Ray watched his partner look up at the tunnel's ceiling before looking back towards the body as the forensic scientist was explaining something to him. He saw Lou nod and lightly slap the forensic expert on the shoulder before Lou walked back across to where he was waiting.

"So, what did Bernie have to say?" the senior IA officer asked, joining Ray as the coroner's attendants carried the stretcher past before they turned and followed them through poorly lit tunnel.

"Edwards was killed instantly. Bernie thinks the bullet went through the heart, he will be able to confirm that after the autopsy. But whatever happened, Bernie said the gun was fired at close range, there's gunshot stippling around the entry wound. The bullet went right through and lodged in the wall behind him."

"Makes sense with what Charlie thinks initially happened here. There's signs of a struggle and a bullet lodged in the roof directly over the body." Lou told his younger partner.

"So, what do you think happened?"

"I think Keller and Stone chased Edwards into the subway, Charlie said that Keller's and Edwards's guns both have two bullets missing from the chambers. We know that two bullets were fired on the platform, I suspect that two the bullets found there will match the bullets in Edwards's gun. I think Keller caught up with Edwards here in the tunnel. I'm not sure why but I suspect after Keller caught up with Edwards, there was some sort of a struggle between them."

"And Edwards lost his gun." Ray nodded in agreement of his partner's scenario as he remembered the gun on the ground next to the body.

"Edwards probably then tried to grab for Keller's gun, the gun went off, one bullet lodged in the ceiling-" Lou continued.

"And the other bullet hit Edwards in the chest." Ray finished for him before frowning. "But that doesn't explain how Stone came to shoot his partner."

"That, my young friend, is the sixty-four-thousand-dollar question."

"So, what do you think happened?" Ray's frown deepened.

"Stone's got a daughter, Jeannie. She must be about eighteen years old now." Lou began to muse as they walked along the subway track back towards the platform.

Ray nodded.

"Well, maybe something was going on between Keller and his kid, something Stone wasn't happy about. After all, Keller's a young buck, and young bucks like to spread their oats, plus I heard that Keller has a bit of a playboy reputation with a different girl on his arm every week."

"Lou, you don't honestly think?" Ray looked at his partner in surprise, "Oh, come on, Lou, I know it's the station in- house joke about how Mike feels about cops dating his daughter, but that's all it is, a joke, and I am sure that every cop who has a daughter has at one time or another said the same thing, even you… and this _is_ Mike Stone we are talking about-"

"It might be Mike Stone whom we are talking about but think about it for a second, Ray, what we have here is a cop and not just any cop, but a well-seasoned Homicide lieutenant who has been on the job for more than twenty years who just shot his young partner. An experienced cop who, after the shooting, did not follow correct protocol. Instead of staying at the scene as Stone knows he should, he ignored the first officers' on the scene requests that he remain on the scene, instead he insisted… no, not just insisted, the officers told me Stone pulled rank on them and told them that he was riding in the back of the ambulance with the man he had just shot. Which leaves me asking myself, did Stone break protocol because he was worried about his partner, or did he break it because he was worried that Keller might regain consciousness in the ambulance and tell someone that his partner shot him?

This could simply be, just like Stone told the responding officers, just a tragic accident and Stone did, in fact, accidentally shoot his partner, thinking that Keller was Edwards and that Edwards was about to shoot him after killing his partner. Or maybe, this is something else entirely. Maybe, Stone saw it a means to an end. But whatever happened, it's our job to find out!"

Stepping back into the Montgomery Station, Lou climbed back up onto the platform before turning and waiting for his younger partner to scramble up beside him before he turned and walked towards the stairs that led up to the street above, "So, let's start doing our job by finding out if there was something going on between Stone's kid and Keller, something that Stone decided to put a stop to, or if the actual partnership between Stone and Keller is really as close as everyone believes."

"So where do you want to start, Lou?"

"Let's start with Stone at the hospital. I want to know just what happened between him and his partner down here this afternoon and why he ignored protocol and left the scene before we arrived."

* * *

**Chapter 2**

* * *

Stepping out of the elevator, Rudy looked around before he saw the anxious man who was pacing the corridor outside the operating room. Hurrying down the corridor, the Homicide captain called out softly, "Mike!"

Mike stopped pacing and turned as Rudy hurried towards him.

"Any word yet?" Rudy asked, eyeing his friend closely.

Shaking his head, Mike looked back at the closed doors of the operating room, "No, not yet."

"I'm sure they will give us an update as soon as they can." Rudy sighed as he looked towards the closed doors before he returned his attention back to his upset officer.

Looking back at his captain, Mike nodded as the grip he held on his fedora tightened, crushing the brim. He looked like he had aged twenty years in the last hour, his eyes were red, and his hands were trembling.

"What happened, Mike? I need you to walk me through what happened step-by-step. And don't leave anything out, understand?"" Rudy asked quietly.

"I shot him, Rudy," Mike swallowed hard and nodded as he looked down at his hands, he could still see the blood that he had scrubbed off them after they had arrived at the hospital - Steve's blood. "I shot Steve …"

"How did it happen?" Rudy pressed gently, aware that the IA guys were not going to be happy that Mike had insisted on accompanying Steve to the hospital and had refused to wait for them at the scene as per protocol. He needed some answers from Mike on what went down in the subway and he needed them fast if he was going to be able to help Mike. He had no doubts that whatever had happened the shooting had been an accident, but he knew the IA guys believed that a cop was always guilty until proven innocent.

Mike swallowed hard again, hoping to stop his voice from cracking as he took a deep trembling breath and a quick guilt-laced glance towards the closed operating doors before he looked back at Rudy, "Steve and I got a tip off that Edwards was staying in a flop house in Washington Street just off of Montgomery, When we got there, Edwards made a run for it, we chased him into the subway on Montgomery. Steve was leading the chase and when Edwards darted into the tunnel, Steve followed. They…um…they had quite a lead on me. About five minutes in, I heard Steve yell out to Edwards to drop his weapon before I heard the sounds of some sort of a fight that ended with two gunshots. The tunnel was dark, Rudy, the only light was from those small overhead lights, it was hard to make much out and when I reached Steve and Edwards, all I could see was a figure on the ground with another figure leaning over them with what looked like a gun in his hand." Mike's face paled as the memory of what happened next slammed over him.

"And then what?" Rudy pushed gently.

Mike's hands crushed the rim of his hat as his voice dropped to a whisper, "It was dark, I wasn't sure if it was Steve kneeling over Edwards or Edwards kneeling above Steve's body, all I knew was that whoever it was, that they had a gun in their hand. I yelled at the figure to drop the weapon but when Steve spun around with the gun still in his hand …" A choked sob tore from Mike's throat as he forced himself to relive the moment he had shot his partner and closest friend. "I…I really thought that it was Edwards, Rudy, and that he had just killed Steve and now he was…" Mike shook his head as the tears began to roll down his face, "That's…that's when I shot him. It wasn't…wasn't until… I went to check the body that I even realized it was Steve."

"Wait, Mike, I don't understand. Did you just say Steve didn't even try to let you know it was him or even lower his gun when you yelled out to him to drop his weapon?" Rudy asked in confusion.

"Or did you even give Keller a chance to let him know it was you?" Lou growled as the two IA officers joined them. "After all, Stone, you seem to have the belief that police procedures don't apply to you!"

"Excuse me, gentlemen, but the corridor outside my operating theatre is not the place to have this… discussion." The four officers turned in surprise and stared at the surgeon who, still dressed in his blue operating scrubs and hat with his surgical mask dangling around his neck, stood in front of the operating room door, his arms crossed as he glared at the senior IA officer. "Might I suggest that you take this discussion somewhere more private, like back at the police station, perhaps."

"You're right, Doc, sorry," Rudy answered as he cast a quick, disgusted, sideward glance at Rodgers before he followed Mike across to where the surgeon was waiting as the two IA officers followed closely behind.

Reaching the surgeon, Mike asked, anxiously, "How is he, Doc?"

Reaching up and removing his blue surgical cap from his head, the surgeon continued to glare over Mike's shoulder at Lou for another second or two before he returned his attention at Mike, "Inspector Keller's condition is serious but stable. The bullet struck him in the upper right chest, breaking a rib and before lodging in the top lobe of his lung, causing his lung to deflate slightly. We were able to remove the bullet and repair the tear and the lung has already started to reflate on its own. He is also suffering from a moderate concussion-"

"Concussion?" Ray asked, frowning in confusion as he cast a quick glance at his partner before returning his full attention back to the surgeon, "Keller was shot in the chest, are you saying he was also hit on the head as well?"

The surgeon quickly shook his head, "No, he most likely hit the back of his head hard on the subway's cement floor or the steel tracks when he fell backwards after being shot. He was lucky that he didn't fracture his skull, but it did leave him with a moderate concussion which we will be monitoring closely over the next few hours in case there is any intracranial bleeding or swelling of his brain. But he is young and strong and barring any complications, I see no reason why the inspector shouldn't make a full recovery."

"Thank God!" Mike breathed with relief as the death grip that he held on the rim of his fedora loosened a little.

"When can we speak with him?" Lou demanded as he deliberately stepped in front of Mike.

"Inspector Keller is currently being prepared to be moved into the Recovery Room and he is in no condition to receive any visitors until at least tomorrow morning," the surgeon answered, leaving Rudy with the distinct impression that the surgeon had dealings with the senior IA officer in the past as the surgeon looked directly at Rodgers and added firmly, "As to when Inspector Keller will be up to answering any of your questions, we will just have to wait and see. Now, if you Gentlemen will excuse me, I have a patient to get back to."

"Thanks Doc," Mike said quietly as the surgeon nodded and turned and re-entered the operating room, allowing the door to swing closed behind him.

Swinging around to face Mike, the senior IA officer snarled coldly, "Well, it looks like you got lucky, Stone, that your partner is looking good to make a complete recovery but don't think you are going to get off with shooting your partner that easily. I expect to see your badge and a full written report about the shooting on Olsen's desk in an hour. You're grounded, Stone, until I have finished my investigation."

Turning on his heel, Rodgers began to walk away with his partner following closely behind. Taking just a couple of steps, he stopped and turned back around, locking Mike in a baleful glare as he added, ominously, "And just a little warning, Stone, if you are thinking of paying a visit to your partner, then if I were you, I would think twice about doing so. I can already charge you with police misconduct for leaving the scene of the shooting, and I still just might but if you try to go anywhere near Keller before I get to hear his side of the story to just what happened down in that tunnel today, I will throw the book at you! And I won't just charge you with police misconduct, I will also throw the book at you for witness tampering, witness intimidation, obstruction of justice and whatever other charges I can think of!" Spinning back around, Lou Rodgers headed towards the elevator with his young partner close behind him, leaving the two, shocked Homicide officers watching his departure.

Stabbing the elevator button, Ray glanced at his partner as he asked, "What now?"

Resisting the urge to look back at Stone over his shoulder, Lou instead looked up and watched the light above the elevator doors light up with each floor the elevator passed as he softly ordered, "I want you to find out everything you can about Stone and Keller being partners, I want to know just how close these two really are and if there is any tension between them. Also find out if there is anything going on between Keller and Stone's daughter and if there is, I want details!"

"Okay Lou, but what are you going to do?" Ray asked as the elevator doors opened, and they stepped inside, before he pressed the button to go down to the lobby.

Turning around, Rodgers stared at Mike as the elevator doors slid shut as he answered, "I am going to get the forensic report before I go through Stone's report about the shooting with a fine tooth comb and then I am going to go through his personal file, cover to cover!"

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

Knocking on the chief's door, Rudy didn't wait for the chief to call his permission to enter, he knew the chief was expecting him as he pushed the door open and entered. "Mike's report on the shooting. I thought you would like to read it before I hand it to the I.A guys," he told the chief, handing the other man the manila folder he was holding before sitting down in the chair placed in front of the desk as the other man open the folder and peruse its contents.

Finishing his brief perusal of Mike's account, the chief looked up at his captain and asked, "Any word on Keller's condition yet?"

"He took a round to the chest, the bullet nicked his lung, and he also has a moderate concussion, probably caused when he hit his head when he fell. The doc said the surgery went well and has listed him in serious condition. The doc's confident that if there are no complications, he should make a full recovery."

"Thank God for that!" the chief murmured before he looked back down at the report in front of him. "Who's handling the investigation?"

"Rodgers," Rudy sighed softly.

The chief grimaced as he looked back up at Rudy, "He's tough, a bit of a bulldog with a bone when he gets his teeth into a case with absolutely no people skills at all, but if anyone can get to the bottom of this mess, he will."

Rudy nodded. "I know. He's already grounded Mike until the investigation is over. I was hoping that he might have settled on keeping Mike on desk duty."

"Where's Mike now?" the chief asked, closing the file before clasping his hands together and resting them on top of it.

"I sent him home." Rudy answered before adding, "He's not alone, Jeannie's home for a few days from university."

"How's he taking it?"

"The same way that you or I would take it if we shot our partners, John, hard… maybe even harder, Mike and Steve are close, closer than most partners."

"So, what just what the Hell happened down in that subway, Rudy?"

The Homicide captain shook his head, "I honestly don't know, and I don't think even Mike really knows. All I know at the moment is Mike accidentally shot Steve, and I don't believe for even a second it wasn't an accident but how it happened," Rudy shrugged. "Mike says he heard a struggle then two shots before he reached Steve and Edwards. We both know just how poorly lit the parts of the subway tunnel are and Mike said he saw a figure crouched over someone on the ground. It was too dark to make out who was who and Mike said he saw the dim light reflect off the barrel of a gun in the figure's hand as he caught up with them but when he yelled at them to drop the gun, they turned and Mike believed they were going to shoot. I believe Mike when he says he called out for whoever he saw to drop the weapon but whether Steve for some reason didn't hear him or Mike didn't hear Steve identify himself … or maybe, I'm completely wrong and Mike is lying …. I guess we won't know until Steve is conscious and able to tell us what happened."

"If he remembers…" the chief interrupted softly.

Rudy swallowed hard and nodded, only too acutely aware that often one of the common side effects of a concussion was memory loss of the minutes or even hours leading up to the injury, as he parroted, "If he remembers…"

"Let's hope for Mike's sake that he does," the chief sighed as he looked back down at the file and opened it again, re-reading Mike's account of what happened before he looked back up at Rudy and asked, "Has there been any tension between Mike and Steve, lately? Anything that I might need to know about?"

Rudy shook his head, "No, John, nothing that I know about or noticed. Their case load has been heavy the last few weeks, but they seemed to be coping. In fact, only this morning I overheard Mike invite Steve around for dinner tonight."

"Good, good, Rodgers is thorough, and I don't want him discovering anything going on between the two of them that might be misconstrued as motive or that we didn't know about," the chief nodded as he reclosed the folder and handed the report back to Rudy before he added, "Listen Rudy, I want you to try and keep on top of this investigation. If there's anything that you think I should know…"

Rudy nodded as he accepted back the folder and rose from the chair. "I'll keep you updated, John," he promised as he turned and headed towards the door.

Nodding his thanks, the chief watched as Rudy left his office and closed the door firmly behind him. Rising from his chair, he turned and walked across to the window before staring out across the parking lot below and sighed. _'What a goddamn mess!'_

* * *

**Chapter 3**

* * *

Closing the oven door, Jeannie smiled as she pulled the oven gloves from her hands and dropped them onto the countertop before she looked around the small kitchen. The table was cleared, the washing up done, the coffee pot scrubbed, the roast was in the oven and she had placed the wine and wine glasses into the fridge to chill. Satisfied that she had done everything she needed to, she glanced down at her watch. Mike would not be home for a couple more hours, which gave her enough time to tidy up the rest of the house. She stopped in the doorway and looked with a critical eye at light layer of dust that coated the little ornaments and knickknacks, not that Mike really left the house untidy when she was away at university, but she liked to give it that bit of a woman's touch, every time she came home for a couple of days, doing those little jobs that Mike never thinks of doing … like dusting.

She laughed softly to herself as she pulled the dusting cloth that she had earlier tucked into the back pocket of her jeans free and walked across to where one of the framed photos sat on the bookshelf. Picking it up, she wiped the dust from the frame and carefully cleaned the glass before wiping the shelf beneath it and gently placing it back down. Picking up the next photo, she stopped and studied it as her smile grew. It was a photo Mike had taken the last time she was home.

Mike and Steve had managed to wangle a week off together and Steve had invited Mike and her to join him when he went to Aspin for a couple of days of skiing. Although Mike did not ski, somehow Steve had managed to get him to agree, probably with the promise of how relaxing it would be to sit in front of an open fireplace, drinking hot chocolate and having nothing more to worry about except trying to decide what book he should read next and what he should have for dinner.

Her smile grew as she remembered how time and effort Steve had put in as he had tried to teach her to ski. His efforts had not been too successful, she seemed to have spent as much time sitting in the snow after falling while trying to balance on the skis as she did standing upright on the skis. Mike had taken the photo after one of her numerous falls when instead of just her falling, she had accidentally pulled Steve down with her, almost burying him in the deep, soft snow when she landed on top of him.

Wiping the glass of the frame carefully, her smile grew, it was great to know that while she was away at university that Mike had Steve. The two of them were much more than just partners, Steve had become family, the son that Mike never had, and she had come to consider Steve as a big brother.

Wiping the shelf, she gently placed the photo back into its place before spinning around in surprise as she heard the distinct sound of the key turning in the lock of the front door a heartbeat before it opened, and Mike stepped inside.

"Mike?" she smiled as she headed across the room towards him, but her smile faded when he did not answer. "Mike is everything okay?" she asked hesitantly as she reached him. He seemed to have aged twenty years since he had left for work this morning. "Mike?" she asked almost timidly, her heart thumping in her chest with fear as he slowly looked up at her with a haunted look in his eyes. She paused a moment as she felt a cold chill ripple through her soul as she remembered seeing the same haunted look on her father's face when her mother had died. Swallowing hard, she forced herself to ask the question she wasn't sure she wanted to hear an answer to as she whispered, "Mike, please tell me, what's wrong? Has something happened to Steve?"

Looking down at Jeannie's frightened face, Mike was unable to stop the tears from falling as he whispered, broken-heartedly, "I shot him, Jeannie. Oh God, I…I shot Steve!"

Grabbing Mike's arm she gently guided him into the kitchen and made him sit down at the table, fearful that if he didn't sit down that he would collapse in front of her. She hurriedly made them both a cup of coffee, placing Mike's cup in front of him, before she turned and picked up hers and sat down. Biting her lip, she watched Mike stare into the mug of coffee that he held in his trembling hands, lost in his thoughts. She waited for several minutes for her father to tell her what had happened but when the silence became overwhelming, she asked softly,"Mike?" Blinking when he heard Jeannie softly call his name, Mike slowly looked up into her worried face as she frowned in confusion, "I don't understand, what do you mean that you shot Steve? Is he okay? What happened?"

Holding the mug a little tighter in an attempt to draw some of its warmth into his cold body, Mike shook his head and looked back down, unable to look her in the eyes as he murmured. "I…I shot him, Jeannie. It…it was an accident."

"I don't understand, Mike, how did it happen? Where's Steve, now? Is he alright?" Jeannie begged when Mike fell silent again. "Please Mike, don't shut me out. Tell me what happened."

Staring into his coffee, Mike took a deep breath as he forced himself to look back up at Jeannie, his pain, and guilt evident in his face as he swallowed hard, trying to force down the lump in his throat that threatened to choke him before he managed to whisper, "It was an accident, we were chasing a suspect in the subway. Steve… Steve was ahead of me. It was dark, hard to see. I…I heard Steve yell out for the suspect to drop his gun but before I could get there to cover him, I heard what sounded like some sort of a fight and two gunshots. By… by the time I got there, I saw someone on the ground with a figure holding a gun leaning over them." Mike paused and shook his head guiltily as he was transported back to the subway in his mind, watching the scene all over again as he continued haltingly, "I …I thought that it was the suspect." Looking across at Jeannie, his eyes pleading for understanding and forgiveness, his voice trembled as he continued, "I…I yelled at him to drop the gun," Mike paused, suddenly doubting himself as he murmured, "At least I think I did, maybe I didn't… maybe that's why Steve didn't lower his gun when he turned towards me… "

"But you thought it was the suspect and he was about to shoot you?" Jeannie whispered, in sudden understanding.

Mike nodded as his eyes dropped back down to stare at the black coffee, "But it wasn't, it was Steve."

"And when he didn't drop his gun, you shot him?" Jeannie murmured.

Mike nodded silently, unable to speak as he remembered realizing what he had done and holding Steve in his arms.

"Ohh, Mike." Jeannie breathed before she asked the question that she was dreading the answer to, "How…" She licked her dry lips as she tried again, "Is Steve…?'

"He… he was hit in the chest." Mike answered softly.

"How...how bad?"

"It's serious, the bullet nicked his lung. The doc said he also suffered a concussion after he hit the back of his head when he went down."

"But he's going to be okay, isn't he?"

"The doc thinks that he will make a full recovery but…" Mike shook his head, "but it's my fault…"

Jeannie rose from her chair and hurried around the table and hugged her father as he looked back down into his mug of coffee, his body shaking as tears trickled down his face. Hugging her father tighter, Jeannie tried hard to reassure him, "It sounds like it was just an accident, Mike, and when Steve wakes up, I know he will tell you the same thing … it was an accident. Just you wait and see!"

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

Closing Steve's personal file, Lou placed it on top of Mike's file before he sat back in Mike's chair and looked around the office. His eyes travelled over the filing cabinet and the coat rack that sat in the corner before he glanced out of the office window into the bullpen. He sat there for a few minutes watching the inspectors and several uniformed guys as they went about their duties, ignoring their covert, suspicious glances in his direction. He knew that being a cop investigating other cops would never win him any popularity contests but frankly he just didn't care. He had a job to do, and that was to weed out the bad apples, especially bad apples who decided they could shoot their partners like Stone. And if some cops didn't like him because of it, that was their problem, not his.

Looking back down at Mike's desk, he picked up a framed photo of a pretty, young woman that sat in pride of place on the Homicide lieutenant's desk. The family resemblance was uncanny, and Lou knew instantly that the young woman had to be Stone's eighteen-year-old daughter, Jeannie. Hmmm, he decided, maybe his theory about Keller and Stone's daughter was worth taking delving a lot more into, after all, Stone was a widow who had raised his daughter and was probably quite protective of her, maybe just a little too protective when it came to her dating, especially if he found out she was dating his partner.

Placing the frame back down on the desk, he leaned down and opened the desk's top drawer, quickly rummaging through the drawer's contents of pens, pencils, spare writing pads, typewriter ink rolls, staples and a stapler. Finding nothing that caught his interest, he pushed it closed and opened the next drawer before quickly searching it. Glancing up as he heard the office door open, he watched as his partner entered and closed the door behind him before Ray walked across to the chair in front of the desk. "Any luck?" he asked as Ray flopped heavily down on the chair.

"Na, they are all circling the wagons," Ray sighed tiredly as his partner closed the drawer before trying to open the bottom one, only to discover it was locked. "According to all of them, Stone's and Keller's partnership is the shining example of how partners should work together." Ray continued as Lou reached into his pocket and withdrew his pocket knife before squeezing the button that released the small thin blade. "In fact, they all tried to make sure that I knew that Stone and Keller aren't just good partners, they're close friends off the job as well."

"What about Keller and Stone's daughter? Anything going on between the two of them?" Lou asked as he carefully inserted the blade into the small cap between the drawer that the desk and jiggled the lock a little until it released before he grinned and triumphantly pulled the drawer open.

"Nothing that they seem to know about," Ray answered as he watched Lou remove several files and letters from the drawer and place them on the desk before he started to peruse through them. "I got the general impression that Stone has welcomed Keller into his family and Keller tends to treat Stone's daughter more like a little sister than a love interest. They all agreed that while Stone's daughter is quite attractive and the two of them are close, romantically she is definitely not Keller's type, too young, there's a ten-year age gap between them, and he prefers to date women closer to his age. Besides that, as Lessings was quick to point out when I asked him about the possibility of something going on between the two of them, Keller knows Stone's rule about his daughter dating cops and there's no way that Keller would ever break that."

"So, it sounds like Stone is quite adamant about his 'no cops dating his kid' rule."

"Yeah, it does. And you're right, might be worth looking a little more deeper into." Ray agreed as Lou picked up the files and the letters, finding no damning evidence in them, and dropped them back into the drawer before kicking the drawer closed with his foot. Nodding towards the stack of closed case files and two personal files laying on the desk in front of his partner, he asked. "Anything interesting in those?"

"Nothing much, Stone's been a cop for over twenty years, started from the bottom, walking the beat and worked himself up the ladder to lieutenant. Wife died of cancer a few years ago and he was left raising his kid on his own. Got himself a few commendations along the way. I want to check out his financials next, be interesting to see just how he paid off his house loan in full after his wife died. He's been working Homicide for the past ten years."

"And Keller?"

"He's one of those new fandangle university cops, studied to be a lawyer for a year before he swapped across to study police science, graduated top of his class. Stone grabbed him as his partner as soon as Keller finished his twelve months as a rookie, not surprising though, Stone saw his potential. Keller's going to go as far as he wants with the right guidance and training. The two of them have been partners for just over two years. Together, they have an arrest and conviction rate of ninety-one percent."

Ray raised an eyebrow in surprise as he murmured, "Impressive!"

Lou nodded, "From the files that I have checked, it looks like Stone has just started letting Keller take the lead in some of their investigations. Seems like, as everyone keeps telling us, Stone and Keller are the perfect partners, and if they are all telling you the truth out there and not covering up for Stone, also the closest of friends."

"But?" Ray looked across at his partner as Lou stared down at the closed folders.

"I don't know, we both know that things aren't always what they appear." Looking out into the bullpen, Lou began to watch the Homicide officers again as he murmured softly to his partner, "My gut keeps telling me that this is not the accidental shooting as Stone wants us believe it was. I think that there's something going on here between Stone and his partner that we are not privy to yet and I want to know what it is, and if it's the reason why his partner is lying in a hospital bed after Stone put a round into his chest!"

* * *

**Chapter 4**

* * *

Looking up from the bloodied piece of cloth he was examining as he heard the lab door open, Charlie nodded towards the slim manila folder sitting on the bench. "Talk about timing," he smiled at the Homicide captain as Rudy joined him, "I just finished my report on the subway shooting and was just about to send it upstairs. I heard on the grapevine that Steve's condition is serious but he's going to be okay."

Rudy nodded. "That's what the doctor said."

"How's Mike taking it? Those two are close."

"Hard," Rudy answered succinctly, changing the subject as he eyed the report. "Anything in it that I should know about before the IA guys read it."

Shaking his head, Charlie picked up two spent and crushed bullets in an evidence bag, handing them to the homicide captain to examine as he answered, "We found two spent bullets on the platform that, although both were badly damaged from ricocheting off the platform walls, I was able to determine were fired from Edwards's gun."

Rudy stared at the two bullets in the small clear plastic evidence bags before handing them back to the small forensic scientist who placed them on the bench before picking up two more small evidence bags. "These two were fired from Keller's gun, probably accidentally discharged while they fought for control over Keller's gun in the tunnel." Handing Rudy one of the small evidence bag that contained a damaged bullet, Charlie explained, "This is the bullet that was lodged in the tunnel ceiling," Handing Rudy the fourth bagged bullet, Charlie continued, "and this is the bullet that killed Edwards and lodged in the wall behind where he fell."

"But Mike said that Edwards only fired twice at them," Rudy frowned as he slowly placed the two bullets down next to the first two before looking up at the forensic scientist in confusion, "I don't get it Charlie, if Edwards only fired twice, he would have had bullets left when Keller caught up with him. So, why didn't he shoot, why did he go for Keller's gun instead?"

"I've got the answer for that as well." Charlie announced as he picked up the tagged and bagged, short nosed .38 calibar gun and held it up as he began to explain. "His gun jammed when one of the bullets got caught in the chamber. I'm amazed that it didn't explode in his hand when he tried to fire it."

"Mike said he heard Steve call for Edwards to drop his weapon shortly before he heard what sounded like the sounds of a struggle," Rudy mused softly as he accepted the bagged gun and turned it over in his hand, studying it.

Charlie nodded, "We found some shoe scuff marks on the newly laid cement floor, which indicated there was some sort of a scuffle, probably when Edwards went for the gun."

"And the two shots Mike said he heard was when the gun went off during the struggle…"

"The first shot went into the ceiling…"

"And the second shot went through Edwards's chest and into the wall behind." Rudy concluded as Charlie nodded his agreement. Rudy placed the gun back down on the bench. "Well that confirms everything that Mike told me happened before he shot Steve, but it doesn't help us with what happened after Edwards was shot."

"Look, I know I'm not an inspector, but I have my own theory that might explain why Steve never answered Mike and Bernie agrees with me," Charlie announced softly as he gathered the evidence together and placed it on top of his report. "But it's just my own theory, so it's not in the report."

"What is it?" Rudy asked, trying to keep the desperation he felt from seeping into his voice.

"We know that Edwards and Keller fought over the gun, and that Keller's gun discharged twice, the first time into the ceiling and the second time the bullet went through Edwards's chest, killing him instantly." Charlie began as Rudy nodded his agreement of the scenario of what had happened so far. "And we both know how loud gunshot is…"

"Especially with no ear protection and in such an enclosed space…" Rudy murmured as Charlie nodded.

"And if Keller and Edwards were fighting over possession of the gun, the likelihood is the gun was discharged at least once-"

"Close to Steve's ear. A gunshot that close to his ears must have been deafening. So, Steve probably never heard Mike call out," Rudy mused, warming to Charlie's theory as he began to gather up the report and the evidence and heading towards the door. Looking back over his shoulder at forensic specialist, he smiled, "It's a good theory, Charlie, now we just have to prove it."

"I hope you can," Charlie sighed as he watched the Homicide captain walk out of the lab before he murmured softly to himself, "because I also heard on the grapevine that Rodgers is gunning for Mike and already has him dead to rights in his sights."

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

"Roy!"

Reaching the door that led out into the SFPD undercover parking garage, Roy stopped as he heard the desk sergeant call his name. Turning, he saw the Duty sergeant on the front desk hold up the handset of the phone, waving it at him before placing it back down on the desk. Turning back to Bill, he patted the Homicide inspector on the shoulder as he said, "I'll just take this call and then I will meet you in the car."

Bill nodded and pushed open the garage door as Roy turned and hurried across to the front desk and picked up the phone, snapping, "Devitt." He frowned as he listened to the other person on the line before he answered, "Thanks Doc, I'm on my way."

Hanging up the phone, he nodded his thanks to the sergeant, he turned and took a step towards the garage door before he felt a hand lightly grab his arm, stopping his exit from the foyer. Turning back, he saw the sergeant quickly glance around before leaning across the desk and asking softly, "I heard about what happened in the subway today. Hell of a thing to happen, Roy, those tunnels are dark, could of happened to anyone of us. I bet Stone's taking it hard. How's Keller?"

"He took the round in the chest, but the docs say he's looking good for a full recovery." Roy answered.

"Thank God," the desk sergeant murmured, "Steve's a good cop. Worked with him while he was a rookie. Wasn't surprised when Stone snapped him up to be his partner in Homicide. The kid's bright and Mike's going to teach him a lot. Mind if I ask but who's leading the investigation?"

"Rodgers and Vernon." Roy sighed.

The desk sergeant shook his head as he let out a small soft whistle before he muttered, "Damn, I'm glad I'm not Stone with those two sniffing around. Warn him to have a Union rep or a lawyer by his side when they interview him. Rodgers is a mean bastard who likes nothing more than going after fellow cops and crucifying them if he can, whether they are innocent or not! That doesn't seem to matter to him. Tell Mike to watch his back…"

Roy nodded, "I will, Tom."

Nodding as Roy turned to walk away, Tom Lankins called out softly, "It's not just Mike who should watch his back, the rest of you should as well. Be extra careful around those two guys."

Waving his hand in acknowledgement of his friend's concerned warning, Roy hurried towards the garage entrance door. He needed to speak to Steve before the two IA guys did and the doctor had warned him that Rodgers was already insisting that he be allowed to interview Steve tonight instead of having to wait until tomorrow morning.

Turning the key in the ignition as Roy opened the passenger door, Bill looked across at his lieutenant as Roy slid inside and closed the door, "So, Mike's place first?"

Roy shook his head as Bill eased the car out of its parking space and headed towards the garage entrance, "No, the hospital just called, Steve's out of recovery and in his room. The doc isn't sure just how coherent he's going to be but it's worth a try to ask him a couple of questions."

"So soon? Is that a good idea?" Bill frowned, casting a quick glance across at Roy before carefully pulling out into the afternoon traffic as he continued, "He's just got out of surgery, he's going to be still fairly groggy from the anaesthetic. I mean wouldn't it be better to talk to Mike first and give Steve some time to wake really wake up?"

Roy nodded, "I wish we could, but it doesn't look like we have the luxury of giving Steve time to really wake up. The doc says that Rodgers just phoned and is insisting on interviewing Steve tonight while the shooting is still fresh in Steve's mind and isn't taking no for an answer. He's trying to stall him for as long as he can…"

"Damn! The man is a damn shark!" Bill muttered as he shook his head and pressed his foot on the accelerator a little harder.

Roy nodded his agreement before he sighed, "You know, Bill, I've seen IA investigations into accidental cop shootings before but this one seems different."

Bill frowned as he quickly turned his head to look at his lieutenant, "Different, how?" he asked, glancing back at the traffic ahead before looking back at Roy.

"I don't know, just some of the comments the attending uniformed guys told me that Rodgers made at the scene, and the way he seems to be digging for a motive, any sort of motive for the shooting, it's almost as if he has made up his mind already," Roy shrugged as he thought about the interview about Mike and Steve and their relationship, not only as partners but also as friends, that he had had earlier in the day with Rodgers as Bill turned his attention back to the road and turned into the hospital entrance. "I just can't shake the feeling that Rodgers has drawn a target on Mike's back for some reason and I can't help feeling that no matter what the investigation uncovers, he's going to try and take Mike down. I don't know if it's something personal or if there's even history between the two of them," Roy paused and shook his head, embarrassed, as Bill pulled into a car space and turned off the engine before turning to face him. He shrugged, "Call it a gut feeling, but I think Mike needs us to cover his back when it comes to Rodgers and this investigation."

Bill nodded his agreement, silently relieved that he was not the only one who had the same sour taste in his mouth regarding Rodgers' IA investigation so far into Steve's shooting.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

Looking up from the patient's chart into which he was jotting his latest orders, the surgeon saw the two Homicide officers entered the ward and walked down the corridor towards him. Quickly placing the file back down on the nurse's desk, he hurried across to join them.

"Doctor Wright?" Roy asked as he joined them.

The surgeon nodded. "You must be Lieutenant Devitt."

Roy returned the nod as he cocked his head towards Bill as the doctor began to lead them down the corridor towards his patient's room, "And this is Inspector Tanner. Thank you so much for allowing us talk to Steve so soon."

"I'm afraid I'm not sure just how coherent he is going to be. He is still coming out of the anaesthesia," the surgeon warned them quietly as he led them into Steve's room and stopped at the doorway allowing them to enter before he followed them inside.

Roy's and Bill's heart sunk at the sight of their young colleague. Even though the room was brightly lit by the late afternoon sun streaming through the window, Steve's complexion looked grey, two bags of IV fluids hung above the bed, their tubing snaked down below them before being connected to a piggy back bung that was partially hidden beneath the dressing that was taped to the back of Steve's left hand. Steve's face was partially obscured by an oxygen mask that covered his mouth and nose and a pristine white dressing on the right side of Steve's chest peeked out from beneath the white sheet that covered him. Sitting on the table beside the bed, a heart monitor softly beeped as the green dot danced across the screen.

Patting the two Homicide officers on the back, the doctor ordered softly, "Five minutes, guys, not a minute longer, he needs to rest."

Roy turned and nodded, "Five minutes, got it Doc," before he turned back and walked across to the bed with Bill following closely behind. Looking down at his youngest Homicide inspector, he hesitated a moment as his hand hovered above Steve's shoulder, momentarily uncertain if he should even wake Steve up.

He knew that if he wanted to interview Steve before Rodgers did, this would be his only chance to find out just what Steve remembered about what happened in the subway. He was certain that once Rodger's was given the all clear to interview Steve, Steve would be off limits to all his colleagues and friends until Rodgers was satisfied that he had gotten the answers he was searching for from the young man. Gently grabbing Steve's shoulder, Roy gave it a gentle but firm shake as he called softly, "Steve? … Steve, can you hear me?"

Soft voices and the distinct sound of the something beeping close to his aching head greeted Steve as he struggled to emerge from the heavy fogginess that seemed to fill his head. His head and chest ached but he didn't have the strength or even the desire to wonder why. He felt someone shake his shoulder as a familiar voice called his name. He tried to decide if he should open his eyes yet or just ignore whoever it was trying to wake him and just drift back to sleep.

"Steve? … Steve, can you hear me?" Roy lightly shook Steve's bare shoulder again, "Come on, Steve, I want you to wake up and open your eyes for me." A soft groan of protest finally answered his gentle behest, a moment before Steve's eyelids flickered and slowly fluttered open, revealing the green eyes beneath. He lightly squeezed the cool shoulder beneath his hand and smiled, "Hey."

Steve blinked and licked his dry lips before he slowly looked around the room in confusion, "W…where?" he croaked, breathlessly, his voice muffled by the oxygen mask as he looked back at the one of the two figures standing beside the bed.

"You're in San Francisco General Hospital. You were shot in the chest while making an arrest. The doc removed the bullet and he said you're looking good for a full recovery."

It took Steve several seconds to comprehend through the murkiness of his mind just what Roy had just told. He closed his eyes tight in an attempt to stop the nauseating feeling of the room spinning wildly around him and swallowed hard as he tasted the sour taste of bile as it rose in his throat. He frowned; something was wrong…something wasn't quite right. It took him another couple of heartbeats before he slowly realized that it was Roy with him… not… "Mike?!"

Roy caught Steve's shoulders, preventing the younger man from sitting up in the bed in his panic to see his partner, "Hey, easy Steve, easy. You've just undergone some pretty serious surgery, the doc will kill us if you undo all his hard work," he murmured softly as he pushed his breathless, young inspector firmly back against the pillows before he forced a small smile as he tried to re-assure the anxious young man, "Mike's fine, Steve! He wasn't wounded. I sent him home to get some rest, it's been a long day."

"Mike's … okay?" Steve swallowed hard, closing his eyes as he relaxed against the pillows, his head was throbbing and the attempt to sit up had caused increased the giddying sensation of the room spinning wildly around him.

Reaching across, Bill lightly placed his hand lightly on his friend's cool arm and gave it a gentle squeeze as he smiled, unsurprised that Steve would be more worried about Mike than himself, "Yeah Steve, Mike's okay."

Steve nodded slowly waiting until the nauseating sensation of the spinning room had eased a little before he opened his eyes again and turned his head in Roy's direction, trying to peer at the darker shape of his lieutenant in the dark room in which he had awoken as he frowned and asked, "Roy, why is it so dark?"

Roy traded confused looks with Bill who seemed just as perplexed as he was of Steve's question as he was. Looking back down at the young man in the bed, he asked, "Dark? What do you mean, Steve?"

Steve swallowed hard, instantly regretting moving his head as the hot bile rose again in his throat, before he mumbled, "Why are all the lights turned off?"

* * *

**Chapter 5**

* * *

"I just don't get it!"

Leaning against the wall, staring at the empty hospital room, Roy jumped as Bill slammed the wall with his fist. The fear and confusion in Bill's voice mirrored the same emotions Roy was experiencing as he willed the doctor to return from taking Steve down to have his head x-rayed again and reassure them that Steve was going to be okay, that the blindness was just some weird reaction or maybe a strange uncommon side effect that Steve had suffered from the anaesthesia.

"He was shot in the chest! They said he was going to be fine! How the hell does a gunshot wound to the chest end up with him being blind?" Bill muttered as he ran a hand over his hair.

"He hit his head when he fell after being shot." Roy reminded the upset homicide inspector as he turned his head to look at Bill and added, "Hard enough to knock him out at the scene and give him a concussion-"

"The latest x-rays we just took showed that the hit to the back of his head was not only hard enough to cause a concussion but also hard enough to cause a large contusion to the back of his brain."

Both men jumped and spun around as the surgeon joined them outside of Steve's empty room.

"Does that mean that he's bleeding into his brain?" Roy asked the surgeon anxiously as his face lost its color and he traded a worried look with Bill, before returning his attention back to the surgeon.

The doctor quickly shook his head, "No, no, when he fell backwards and hit his head on the ground, it severely bruised the occipital lobe that's located at the back of his brain." Seeing Roy and Bill frown in confusion as they tried to follow what he was telling them, the surgeon explained, "The occipital lobe is located here," he explained, touching the back of Bill's head, "and it's the area in the brain that is responsible for making sense of what our eyes see. When Inspector Keller fell backwards and hit the back of his head on the ground, it bruised that part of his brain that is responsible for seeing and has caused it to swell and as a result, he is currently unable to see."

"But when the bruise goes away, he will be able to see, won't he? I mean, his not being able to see is just because of the bruising, isn't it, Doc? He's not really… blind…," Bill swallowed hard before he forced himself to ask the question both he and Roy were dreading the answer to, "is he?"

Looking at the two anxious men, the surgeon sighed, "I'm afraid that at the moment, we don't know just how seriously his occipital lobe has been damaged until the swelling goes down and the bruise heals. Best scenario is that the area is just bruised, and his sight will return in the next few days as the bruising and swelling improves, but we must also prepare for the worst-case scenario of…"

"That his blindness is permanent." Roy finished for the surgeon.

"I'm afraid so," the surgeon nodded.

Roy nodded woodenly as he pushed away the sickening thoughts of how not only Steve, but also Mike, would deal with the worst-case scenario of Steve being permanently blind.

"We have transferred him to the ICU where we can monitor his condition more closely. He's awake, but he's a little agitated and confused because of the head injury and not being able to see, and understandably, he's also very scared. He's asking for his partner…"

Lifting his hand to run his hand over his face, aware that Steve's request to see Mike was going to have to be denied until he was well enough to be questioned by the IA guys first, Roy took a deep breath to try and stop his voice from trembling before he asked, "Can...can we see him?"

The surgeon nodded, "Of course, but any questions that you wanted to ask him about what led up to his shooting will now have to wait until he is out of the ICU."

"No questioning, Doc, we promise." Roy readily agreed, unable to keep the slight tremor out of his voice as he followed the surgeon across to the elevator with Bill following close behind.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

Nodding at his assistant to finish sewing up the young murder victim whom he had just finished autopsying, Bernie turned, removing his paper mask before tugging the latex gloves off and dropping them into the small bin as his brow creased into a frown. "So, you want to know if it's possible that the gun fired so close to Keller's head could have temporarily deafened him? And if there is any way to prove it, if Steve is unable to remember what happened today?"

Rudy nodded as he followed the coroner across to the small desk set up in the corner of the room and watched as Bernie jotted down the last of his notes about the autopsy he had just performed.

Scribbling his signature at the bottom of the report, Bernie closed the file before he turned back to the Homicide captain and leaned back against his desk, folding his arms across his chest. "It's possible, Rudy," he began. "In fact, I would say that it's very likely that a gun discharging that close to Steve's head, in a tunnel that is certain to magnify the sound, could and would cause some degree of deafness, at least temporarily, if not permanently. But the problem is just how severe the hearing loss Steve suffered at the time of the shooting is harder to determine. The hearing loss he might have experienced could have ranged from just ringing in the ears that might have distorted sounds to full hearing loss- all of which could have just been temporary or could even be permanent. There's no way of telling just if there was any damage done or just how severe the damage might be until, and if, the doctors check his hearing."

"So, it is possible that when Mike called out for Steve to drop his gun, Steve might not have heard him?" Rudy insisted, desperate to get a definitive answer.

"Yes, it's possible." Bernie answered slowly, "But if you want me to say that that's what happened, I'm sorry but I can't. I can speculate that's what happened, I can even honestly say that I believe it's what most likely happened, but I'm afraid that no one but Steve can answer that question. And I'm afraid that after suffering a concussion, although, in all likelihood, Steve will eventually remember most of what happened, there is a chance that he won't remember all of it or his memory of what happened may be patchy. Which, I guess brings me to your second question of if there is any physical way to prove that Steve was rendered temporarily deaf by the gun fire?"

"And?"

"Again, I'm afraid that really depends on how much damage was done when the two shots were fired close to his head." Bernie answered slowly as he looked down at the floor as he contemplated the answer to Rudy's question before looking back up at Rudy again. "It's possible that the gunshots discharged so close to Steve's ear may have ruptured his eardrum or the shock wave from the passing bullet could have damaged the small bones in his ear. If his eardrum was ruptured or the bones are damaged, then there's your proof."

"But wouldn't the doctors have noticed a ruptured eardrum when he was being was examined in the ER?" Rudy asked cautiously.

"Not necessarily, Steve suffered a concussion and was being assessed and prepared for surgery for a gunshot wound to the chest. It's quite possible that any blood in the ear canal could have been dismissed as blood in the ear canal caused by the head injury or even missed altogether." Unfolding his arms and standing straighter as he noticed the two IA officers enter the Autopsy room, Bernie murmured, "If you want to find out if there's any physical evidence to back up your theory that Steve didn't hear Mike yell to drop his gun, my advice is to get his doctors to call in an ENT specialist to examine him."

"Thanks Bernie, I will." Rudy murmured as he watched Rodgers and Vernon skirt around the autopsy table as the two IA officers headed towards them.

"Anytime, and good luck. With these two on the case, Mike is going to need all the help he can get to clear himself, even if Steve does remember and can confirm what happened was an accident." Bernie breathed softly as he turned and picked up the file on his desk before handing it to Rudy as he said loud enough for the two IA officers to overhear. "Here's my findings on the autopsy on Brian Hellmoth that Lessing has been nagging me for. Cause of death was blunt force trauma; the kid took one hell of a beating but not before he got high. He had enough amphetamines in his system to have killed him ten times over, the kid was really flying high when he was killed."

"Thanks Bernie, I'll see that he gets it," Rudy smiled as he accepted the file before he turned to leave as the two IA officers reached them.

Bernie nodded as he turned his attention to Rodgers and his partner and asked, "Can I help you two gentlemen?"

"We're just after the Edwards' autopsy results," Rodgers answered distractedly as he watched Rudy hurry out of the room before he turned back to Bernie and added, "I was just thinking, after seeing you chatting with Captain Olsen just now, that you probably have gotten to know the guys in Homicide well."

"Well enough," Bernie answered suspiciously.

Rodgers nodded as he cast a quick glance at his partner before he asked, "So, what can you tell me about Keller and Stone?"

o-o-o-o-o-o-o

Dropping the autopsy file onto Lessing's desk as he past it, Rudy continued walking across to the coffee table where Norm Haseejian was pouring himself a cup of coffee. He nodded silently as Norm looked at him and held up a mug, before looking around at the strained and worried faces of his homicide officers as the uniformed SFPD sergeant poured out a second mug of coffee and handed it to him. Looking back at Norm, he nodded his thanks, taking a small sip of his coffee before he lowered his mug and looking around again as he sighed, "By the mood in this room, I gather that Rodgers and Vernon have already carried out their interviews."

"From what I have heard, it's more like Rodgers' own private witch hunt." Norm told the Homicide captain softly as he turned back to watch the sombre looking inspectors as they went about their duties.

"Rough, hey?" Rudy asked his old friend, knowing that Norm was not afraid to answer his questions honestly. The two of them had gone through the police academy together and while he had risen through the ranks to be a captain in Homicide, Norm had preferred staying in uniform, working the streets and helping train new recruits and being one of the uniformed officers who often assisted homicide inspectors with their cases. Despite being encouraged to rise above the rank of sergeant, Norm had continued to refuse to be promoted, fearing that he would end up behind the desk instead of behind the wheel of a squad car.

"Let's just say, that he has left everyone with the feeling that he doesn't believe for one second that Steve's shooting was accidental." Norm answered quietly, taking a small sip of coffee and continued to watch the inspectors as he added, "They've been asking just how well Mike and Steve work together as partners, just how close their friendship really is. Hell, Rudy, they have even been asking about how close Steve and Jeannie are and how Mike might react if he found out about a possible sexual relationship between his partner and his daughter. From what I have heard, they have made it quite clear that they are looking for a motive, any possible motive, for the shooting. It's almost as if Rodgers wants to prove that Mike's guilty."

Turning his back to the bullpen, Rudy nodded, "That's what I'm afraid of, and with Mike feeling as guilty as he does for shooting Steve, he might just do or say something and that will Rodgers the ammunition to take him down."

"Do you think there could be something personal going on between Rodgers and Mike?" Norm asked quietly, "I mean I know that Rodgers has the reputation of being somewhat of a hard-ass when it comes to his investigations but this is-"

"More than that?"

Norm nodded, "Yeah."

"I don't know but I sure as hell am going to find out and I'm going to make sure that Mike knows to keep his head down and not talk to Rodgers without representation until Steve's well enough to tell us what happened down in that tunnel today!" Rudy growled as he slammed the half-finished mug of coffee back down on the table before he turned and hurried out of the bullpen, leaving several of the inspectors staring after him.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

Pushing the forensic report that he had been reading away from him, Ray leaned back in his chair and sighed. The forensic report backed up what Stone had written in his statement. Edwards had fired two shots on the platform before Keller had chased him into the tunnel. Forensics had also confirmed, just as Stone had claimed, there had been some sort of a struggle when Keller had caught up with the suspect. Edwards's disabled weapon was found on the ground close to where the suspect had gone down, and Edwards's fingerprints were found on the barrel and the handle of Keller's weapon. Forensics had also retrieved a bullet from the tunnel ceiling, as well as the fatal bullet that had lodged in the tunnel wall after passing through Edward's body, all indicative that they had fought for Keller's gun. A fight which Edwards had lost.

Unsurprisingly, the lab boys also confirmed that the bullet that the doctors had dug out of Keller's chest had been fired from Stone's gun. A fact that was not in dispute, not even by Stone, but what forensics could not explain was the reason why Stone had fired his weapon in a tunnel, that even he had admitted, had been poorly lit making it difficult to see who he was shooting at.

Picking up Stone's statement, Ray perused it again. Stone had stated that the lighting in the tunnel was poor and he had saw the light reflect off a weapon in the hand of the figure crouched over a second figure on the ground. He had yelled at the figure to drop the gun and had fired when the figure had stood up and swung the weapon towards him.

Dropping Stone's statement back down on his desk, the junior IA officer picked up a pen and began to tap it on the wooden surface as he thought about the questions that were running through his head. If Stone had called out for the 'suspect' to drop his gun as he had claimed he had, then why hadn't Keller identified himself to his partner? So why had Keller, as Stone claimed, swung around towards him with the gun in his hand?

The pen drummed a little faster against the desktop as he looked up and stared at the wall behind the desk. Had Keller been trying to defend himself or had he not heard his partner's warning to drop the gun or decided to ignore it for some unknown reason? Or was Lou right, was there something that had happened between the two men that had led up to the shooting?

He bit the inside of his cheek as he found himself dismissing Lou's theory. The interviews he had held with the other inspectors had only convinced him that Stone and Keller were not only partners who worked well together but were also close friends. Hell, even the coroner had commented how close the two of them were. And as for Lou's other theory about Keller and Stone's daughter, well, so far there was nothing at all to support anything else but them being friends.

He jumped in surprise as the door to the door to the IA office behind him opened with a crush and he spun around as his partner snapped, "Come on, grab your coat, we have to get going."

"What's going on?" Ray asked as he jumped up, snagging his coat that was hanging on the back of his chair before he turned and ran to catch up with his partner as Lou disappeared back out of the door.

"Just got a call from the hospital. Keller's taken an unexpected turn for the worse. His head injury has turned out to be much more serious than the doctors first thought. His brain is swelling…" Lou growled over his shoulder, heading towards the elevator as his partner caught up with him, "he's been transferred to the ICU."

"So, are we going to the hospital?" Ray frowned, uncertain of how just they were going to be able to question Keller, that's if the doctors even allowed them to, as they reached the elevator.

"No, we're going to Stone's place. We're going to bring Stone and his kid in for questioning?" Lou growled over his shoulder as he stabbed the button to summon the elevator to their floor.

"Now?" Ray asked, frowned in confusion, aware that normally Lou liked to allow the cop they were investigating to stew for a while, while they gathered enough evidence to make the guilty cop sweat when brought in for questioning. And so far, all the evidence they had gathered confirmed that Stone was telling the truth of what had happened leading up to the shooting, that he claimed was accidental. So, unless Keller recovered enough to tell them what happened, all they had so far were a lot of unanswered questions and suspicions and no evidence yet to prove that the shooting was anything else but what Stone claimed. Looking at his partner, he could not help but wonder if maybe there's was something more between Lou and Stone that he didn't know about than just an IA investigation of a possible accidental shooting of a fellow officer. Although he knew his partner always gave one hundred and ten per cent with all their investigations, often alienating other police officers while trying to find out the truth, he had never seen Lou as determined to find the officer they were investigating guilty, even before they had all the evidence in yet to prove Stone's guilt or innocence, as he seemed determined to find Stone. "Why?" he asked cautiously.

"Because my gut tells me that there was something going on between Stone and his partner. Something that everyone knows about in Homicide and are covering up for, something that ended with Stone trying to kill a good cop today down in that subway. And I still think that something has something to do with his kid!" Rodgers said softly as the elevator doors slid open and they stepped inside and turned to face the door. Slapping the button that would take them down to the ground floor and to the parking lot, Lou stared at the doors as they slid slowly closed before he added, with a vicious undertone to his voice that Ray had never heard before, "And I want to watch Stone squirm when I tell him that he is facing a possible murder charge if Keller dies!"

* * *

**Chapter 6**

* * *

Walking back out through the doors that lead into the Intensive Care Unit, Roy and Bill never spoke a word, both feeling shellshock that Steve's condition had taken such an unexpected and drastic downward turn, as they walked across to the public telephone located on the wall near the elevator.

Steve was agitated and confused, unable to understand what had happened to him or why he couldn't see. The agitation and confusion were caused by the increasing pressure caused by the bruising and swelling of his brain, the doctor had softly explained, as Steve had continually asked for Mike. Roy knew that Steve desperately wanted and needed Mike by his side, something that Roy was only too aware, could not happen yet.

Reaching for the handset, Roy lifted it up before reaching into his pocket and fumbling for a dime. It took him three attempts to drop the coin into the slot because his hand was shaking so much before he dialled headquarters, waiting for a moment for his call to be answered, before asking for his call to be transferred through to Rudy only to be told that Captain Olsen had left Bryant Street half an hour earlier and could be contacted at Lieutenant Stone's address.

Thanking the dispatcher, Roy hung up the phone before fumbling in his pocket again for another dime. Picking back up the phone, he dialled Mike's home number, his heart beating hard in his chest as he mentally prepared himself to break the news of the severity of Steve's head injury and blindness to Mike when Mike answered the phone.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

Pouring herself another cup of coffee, Jeannie added some cream and sugar before she turned around leaned against the counter and watch her father as she slowly stirred it. Mike had been sitting at the table, staring into his untouched and now stone-cold coffee for the last two hours. All her attempts to get him talking had ended in just one syllable answers or he had not answered at all. Biting her bottom lip as she tried to think of some way she could break through the wall that he seemed to have built around him. Watching him, just sitting there lost in his grief and guilt, was terrifying.

The same scene replayed over and over in Mike's mind like a broken record. He found himself looking at the dark shape of a body lying, motionless, on the ground as a second dark shape of a man crouched above it, the light glimmering off the barrel of the gun of the gun that the figure held. He heard himself shout at the figure to drop his gun and watched as the figure rose to his feet. Time felt like it had suddenly slowed down to a mere crawl as he watched the figure in the semi-darkness slowly spin towards him. He swallowed hard as the sour taste of hot bile rose in the back of his throat, he could still feel his gun recoil in his hand as he gunned down his closest friend and partner.

She jumped in surprise, hissing in pain as some of the hot coffee spilled over her hand, as she heard the someone knocking on the front door. Casting another quick glance at Mike, she sighed. If Mike had heard the knocking, he never reacted to it, instead he continued to stare into his untouched mug of coffee. Placing her mug back down onto the counter behind her, she turned and hurried out to answer the door.

Opening the door, she was relieved to find her father's captain and close friend Rudy Olsen standing there. Like her father, the older man looked like he had aged in the last few hours, as he forced a small smile, "Hi, Jeannie."

"Rudy!" She gasped in surprise and fear as she saw the worried look on Rudy's face. Moving aside to allow him to come in before she asked cautiously, "Has something happened to Steve?"

Realizing what Jeannie was thinking by his sudden, unexpected visit, Rudy quickly shook his head as he stepped inside and quickly tried to reassure her, "No, that's not why I'm here, last I heard Steve was stable and was being moved from recovery into his own hospital room. I'm actually here to talk to Mike before the IA guys do. How's he doing?"

"Not good. He's just sitting at the table, not saying a word, just staring into his coffee." Jeannie answered quietly as she pushed the front door closed before she turned and glanced at the kitchen door where her father was sitting, staring into his coffee. Returning her attention back to Rudy, she shrugged, her eyes bright with unshed tears, "He's starting to scare me, Rudy, I have never seen Mike act like this before."

"He's blaming himself for shooting Steve, and I am sure when Steve is able to, he will confirm that what happened down in the subway was nothing more than an accident." Rudy told Jeannie as he reached for her hand and gave it a gentle, reassuring squeeze, "It will be okay, Jeannie, I promise. I'll talk to him."

Biting her bottom lip, Jeannie nodded. "Thank you," she whispered as a single tear slowly trickled down her cheek as Rudy released her hand and she watched him head towards the kitchen.

Entering the small kitchen, Rudy paused for a minute as he watched Mike sitting as the table, his hand wrapped around the cup of untouched coffee that Rudy suspected had was probably now stone cold. Mike looked lost in his own thoughts and Rudy doubted that Mike was even aware of his presence behind him as he placed his hand on Mike's shoulder. "Mike?" When he received no reaction from the other man, Rudy shook Mike's shoulder as he said a little louder, "Mike?"

Mike jumped, causing the cold coffee to splash over his hand as he felt a firm hand shake his shoulder and realized that someone was calling his name. Looking up, he was startled to see Rudy standing beside him. He felt his chest tighten with fear as he asked, "Rudy? What are you doing here? Has something happened-"

Unsurprised that Mike's first concern was for his partner, Rudy quickly shook his head, answering Mike's question before Mike had even been given the chance to fully vocalize his fear, "No, no, the last I heard, Mike, was Steve is stable and being moved into his own room. That's not why I'm here." Rudy quickly reassured his friend as he released the light hold he had on Mike's shoulder, and sat down on one of the chairs opposite Mike. "I'm here because I want your version of just what happened down in that tunnel today and to make sure that you have a union rep or a lawyer with you when IA guys interview you later today."

"What happened in that tunnel today is I shot my partner, Rudy. Steve is lying that that hospital bed because of me. I almost killed him today," Mike answered guiltily, swallowing hard and blinking away the tears that burned the back of his eyes as he admitted softly, "and I can't help thinking that I jumped the gun and shot Steve before he had time to identify himself, or maybe he did, and I didn't hear…"

"Or maybe Steve didn't hear you at all." Rudy cut in, desperate to stop the spiral of guilt that Mike was spinning down into before the IA guys had a chance to question him. When Mike shook his head in disbelief that Steve might not heard his shout and looked back down to stare in his coffee, Rudy slapped the table, ignoring the sound of the phone as it began to ring in the living room as he growled in frustration, "Damn it Mike, you have to snap out of it and stop blaming yourself for what happened to Steve! It was an accident! And when Steve is well enough, he is going to tell you the same thing. You're a cop, probably one of the best cops that I know, so think about it! You said that you heard the sounds of a struggle and then the two gunshots before you came around the curve. I bet they were extremely loud and echoed through the tunnel.

Charlie says that forensics show that Steve and Edwards were struggling over possession of Steve's gun when it discharged, not once but twice. If it two shots sounded loud to you in the tunnel, imagine how loud the gunshots must have been when the gun went off next to Steve's ear. I doubt Steve even heard you yell to drop the gun, if he wasn't temporarily deafened by the shots so close to his ears then his ears had to be ringing. He probably saw some movement in the darkness behind him when he was checking Edwards for a pulse when you came up behind him and reacted. And Mike, you even said it, yourself, it was dark, too dark, to see just who was on the ground and who was holding the gun.

Hell, Mike, you both reacted like cops, but this time reacting like cops backfired and Steve got shot. It was an accident, one, hopefully, Steve will be able to confirm when he is well enough, but if you keep sitting here second guessing and feeling guilty for yourself the IA guys are going to think there is something more going on than just an accidental cop shooting." Rudy looked up as Jeannie come to the kitchen door and hesitated, before he looked back at Mike and hissed in frustration, "Hell, Mike, they already do-"

"Umm, excuse me, Rudy," Jeannie began, the tremor and fear in her voice made Rudy look up at her again. She bit her bottom lip as a large tear trickled down her face, she swallowed hard, trying hard to keep it all together as she glanced at Mike, before she looked back at Rudy, "but that was Roy on the phone. Headquarters told him you were here. He says that you need to get back to the hospital as fast as you can." Her heart broke as she saw the terror in her father's eyes as he looked up at her as she swallowed again, trying not to cry, as she forced herself to continue, "It's … it's Steve, Rudy …Roy said there's been some sort of a complication from his head injury." Unable to stop the sob that she had been trying so hard to swallow down from escaping, Jeanie could only whisper, "Roy says he's… he's blind. He can't see! They've taken him up to the ICU." Looking across at her father, she added softly, "Roy says that he…he keeps asking for Mike."

Jumping up from the table, ignoring his chair as it toppled backwards and crashed to the ground, Mike rushed towards the door.

Grabbing Mike's arm, Rudy stopped Mike's panicked egress from the kitchen as he demanded, "Mike, just where do you think you are going?"

"I'm going to the hospital! You heard what Jeannie just said, Steve's asking for me!" Mike growled, shrugging free of Rudy's light hold as he took another step towards the door.

"Oh no, you're not, you're staying here." Rudy told him firmly as he grabbed Mike's arm firmly again. "The last thing Steve needs right now is you to be arrested because you decided to disobey Rodgers's orders to stay away until they speak to him." Running his other hand through his thinning grey hair, Rudy looked at Mike, only too aware of how desperate Mike was to be next to Steve's side. Hell, if it was his partner, he would move heaven and earth to be there as well and God help anyone who got in his way. Softening his tone, Rudy said gently, "Look Mike, we both know that the IA guys are just glorified head-hunters and I don't know why but Rodgers seems determined to hang yours on his wall. I don't want to see you give him the chance to let that happen. So, for God's sake, Mike, as much as I know it's killing you inside not to by Steve's side, especially now, I need you to stay away."

"I don't care about Rodgers and IA's orders, I'm going!"

"Damn it, well I do care, Mike, even if you don't," Rudy hissed angrily as his grip on his friend's arm tightened, preventing Mike from leaving, "because Steve needs you, now more than ever, and you can't be with him when he needs you the most if Rodgers has you cooling your heels in a cell!"

"Rudy's right, Mike," Jeannie nodded as she saw her father hesitate and look at Rudy before adding softly as he slowly looked across at her, "You need to stay here. Steve's going to need us, and you won't be here when he does if you are in a prison cell. I'll go -"

"I'm sorry Jeanie, but it's probably best if you don't visit Steve either," Rudy interrupted her.

Spinning around, shocked at Rudy's refusal to allow her to go to Steve in the hospital, Jeannie demanded, "So now I'm not allowed to either, why not?"

"Because we have a couple of questions to ask you and your father down at the station about what led up to Inspector Keller's shooting today," Rodgers announced as the three people in the kitchen spun around in surprise to find Both Rodgers and Vernon standing in the doorway, watching them. Pulling out their IDs, the two IA officers showed their badges to Jeannie as Rodgers introduced himself, "My name is Rodgers, Lieutenant Lou Rodgers, Internal Affairs, and this is my partner, Inspector Ray Vernon." Reaching for Jeannie's arm to guide her outside to their car, as Ray reached for Mike's arm, Lou added, "You know, Miss, you really should make sure that you have closed the front door securely because you never know just who could walk in."

* * *

**Chapter 7**

* * *

After ensuring that Mike and Jeannie had been securely sequestered into two separate interview rooms on their arrival back to the station for questioning, Ray Vernon hurried down to the IA office to find his partner collecting Mike's and Steve's personnel files. "I put Stone in the interrogation room near the holding cells and his daughter in the interrogation room in Homicide, just like you told me." He frowned as he watched his partner gather up several of the crime scene photos before placing them into a third manila folder. "So how do you want to handle this?"

"I'm going to interview Stone's daughter. I want to find out if anything is going on between her and Keller that no one knows about and just what Stone has told her about the shooting." Rodgers smiled as he held up the folder containing the photos as he added, "Maybe even shake her up a little and see what slips out."

"What about Stone? Olsen's trying to arrange for a union rep or a lawyer to be with him when we interview him."

"Let him sweat for a while. There's another interview that I want you to do first." Rodgers told his younger partner as they turned and headed towards the door.

"Who?" Ray asked in surprise.

"Keller." Rodgers answered succinctly, "I want to know just what he remembers about what happened in that subway today."

Vernon stopped and turned to face his partner, frowning in confusion, "But you heard what Stone's daughter told Stone and Olsen. DeVitt told her that Keller's condition has taken a turn for the worse and they've transferred him back to the ICU. There's no way the doctors are going to allow me to interview him."

Lou laughed, lightly slapping his partner on the shoulder as he said, "That's why you're going to slip into his room to interview him without going through all the rigmarole of asking them first and being told no, my friend. Now you better get going, I have my own interview to do."

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

Lou Rodgers ignored all the Homicide inspectors in the bullpen who turned to watch him as he entered the bullpen and walked across to the interrogation room where Jeannie was waiting, before opening the door and stepping inside and then closing the door firmly behind him. If being under the watchful eyes of the suspicious officers worried him, he never let it show.

Walking around the table placed in the middle of the interrogation room, he dropped three manila folders onto the table before he sat down and opened one of the folders. Ignoring the young woman sitting across the table from him, he slowly perused the file's contents, flicking over the pages.

Biting her bottom lip as she watched the IA officer, Jeannie could not stop herself from shaking from fear. She and Mike had been separated as soon as they had reached the station, and while she had been brought up to Homicide and placed in the interrogation room, she had no idea where Mike had been taken or what was happening to him. "Where's Mike? Is he okay?" she asked timidly when the officer did not speak.

"He's fine, he's just answering a couple of my partner's questions about the shooting." The IA officer answered distractedly as he pushed the file he had just finished perusing aside before reaching for the second file.

Glancing at the open file the IA officer had pushed aside, Jeannie was surprised to see her father's photo clipped to the first page. Quickly looking across at the second, thinner personnel file the IA officer had opened in front of him, she spied Steve's photo as the IA officer flicked it over and began to peruse the other pages silently for several minutes without saying anything else.

Lou flicked back to Steve's photo and pretended to study it as he surreptitiously watched Jeannie's reaction as he said, "You know Keller's not a bad looking, for a guy, bet he's a real ladies' man. Probably even has all the ladies chasing after him." Looking up from the photo and across the table at Jeannie, he added softly, "Maybe, even you?"

Jeannie looked up startled at the unexpected question, "What? … No! Steve's -"

"Oh, I forget, Keller's a cop and your dad doesn't allow you to date cops, does he?" Lou cut her off as he looked back down at the file and flicked the photo back over to study the information on the page beneath it.

"No, that's not what I was going to say." Jeannie protested.

"No, I guess it wasn't because you wouldn't disobey your father and date a cop, especially if the cop is your father's partner, would you?" Rodgers waved his hand, dismissing anything Jeannie might have to say as he turned another page and glanced over it. "Seems Keller is quite bright, University graduate, with one year of law under his belt before he switched across to Police Science. Graduated top of his class before joining SFPD. One year in uniform as a rookie before being transferred into Homicide to be your father's partner at your father's request. He wasn't even twenty-six years old, that's young for a homicide inspector. One thing I will say about your father, he knows talent when he sees it. Keller was certainly rising through the ranks, from what I have been told, he was expected to go far, maybe that's why your father shot him down in cold blood today."

"You're wrong!" Jeanne gasped, shocked at the accusation that Mike had deliberately gunned Steve down, "Mike would never-"

"Gun his partner down in cold blood?" Rodgers growled as he grabbed the third folder in front of him and opened it, revealing photos taken from the crime scene. "Well, in his initial report about the shooting your father claims that he and Keller chased their suspect into the subway on Montgomery. Keller was in the lead when Edwards ran into the tunnel with your father following. He claims heard sounds of a struggle somewhere ahead of him before he heard two gunshots and when he reached the scene he claims it was dark and all he could make out in the darkness was a figure kneeling over what appeared to be a body on the ground."

Jeannie swallowed hard, feeling sick, as she listened to Rodgers so coldly retell her what Mike had already told her. "Mike told me," she managed to whisper.

"Ohh, he did, did he?" Rodger asked softly before he added, "Did he also tell you that although it was dark, too dark to see who was kneeling over the body on the ground, he was able to see the gun in figure's hand when figure stood up and turned towards him, but it was too dark for him to realize it was his partner?" Picking up the first, well-lit crime scene photo that had been taken before he and Vernon had arrived on the scene that showed Edwards's body sprawled on the ground only feet away from where Keller was lying, unconscious on the ground, being treated by the ambulance attendants before being taken away in the ambulance. He threw it across the table to land just in front of Jeannie. "Now does the area in the photo look too dark for your father not to have known it was his partner who was holding the gun? And if it was as dark as he claimed it was, then why didn't he give Keller the chance to identify himself?"

Jeannie's face went pale as she stared at the photo, "But Mike would never-"

"Shoot Keller." Rodgers finished her sentence.

Jeannie nodded as she stared at the photo lying on the table in front of her.

"But he did, and he has already admitted to it, not only to us but to you as well." Rodgers told her gently, "But what he won't tell us the reason why. So, come on, help me understand why a good cop like your father would suddenly turn on his partner like this. Was there some sort of tension between him and Keller that we don't know about? Maybe you and Keller decided to break your father's rules and…"

"No, you're wrong! There was nothing going on between Mike and Steve, and there was nothing going on between Steve and me. Steve's always behaved like a big brother towards me. Whatever happened today down in that subway had to have been an accident, just like Mike said it was!" Jeannie insisted as the tears began to trickle down her face, "Mike would never have shot Steve intentionally."

"But he did," Rodgers reminded her coldly as he picked up several more crime scene photos before standing up and walking around the table to stand behind Jeannie. Dropping the photos, some showed Steve lying unconscious on the ground being treated by the ambulance attendants and some showed the bloodstained floor where Steve had been lying, one by one, onto the table in front of her. "And I am going to find out the reason why." He warned her, "With or without your co-operation."

* * *

**Chapter 8**

* * *

Pushing open the door leading into the Intensive Care Unit, Ray entered the ward and nervously looked around, momentarily wondering why he was even following his partner's crazy order of trying to interview Keller in the ICU without the medical staff's consent or knowledge. He gave a soft sigh of relief when he saw that the nurse's station was unmanned and, listening closely, he could hear the soft murmuring of the nurses as they carried out their duties in different patients' rooms.

Quickly moving through the unit, he glanced into each room he passed, searching for the young inspector. Finding the young man he was searching for, he quickly looked around, reassuring himself that the corridor was still empty before he slipped into Keller's ICU room, and closed the door softly behind him.

Leaning against the door, he stared at the man asleep in the bed. Two bags of IV fluids hung above the bed, their tubing snaked down below them to the back of Keller's left hand. Keller's face was partially obscured by an oxygen mask that covered his mouth and nose and even from the doorway, Ray could see the dark bruising that was forming around the young inspector's eyes. His eyes travelled down to the white dressing on the right side of Keller's chest and the plastic tube that emerged from beneath it and disappeared down to a large glass bottle, partially filled with frothy blood, that sat on the floor next to the bed.

Looking up at the heart monitor beeped softly above the bed, he tried to ignore the small voice in his head that whispered that told him that he should leave and allow Keller to rest. Shaking his head, unable to quite believe that he was really going to do what his partner wanted, he drew a deep breath and pushed himself away from the door before crossing the room to stand beside the side of the bed.

Acutely aware that a nurse might enter the room at any moment and that he did not have much time to carry out the type of interview that Rodgers wanted him to carry out with the young inspector, Ray gently grabbed Keller's shoulder and gently shook it firmly as he whispered, "Keller, Keller, wake up." Only receiving a soft moan of protest as Keller turned his head away from him, his grip on Keller's shoulder tightened before he shook it firmly, raising his voice a little as he hissed, "Come on, Keller, I don't have much time, I need you to wake up and answer some questions." Shaking the shoulder beneath his hand a little harder, when he heard the sound of voices and footsteps walk past the closed door, he growled, "Come on, Inspector, wake up!"

His harshly whispered order was rewarded when Steve's turned his head back towards him and slowly opened his eyes.

"Mmmike?" Steve breathed in confusion, his voice muffled by the oxygen mask, as he tried to focus on the dark shape leaning over him. "Mm…mike?"

"No, Keller, I'm not your partner," Ray answered quietly, "my name is Vernon, Inspector Ray Vernon, Internal Affairs. I need to ask you some questions about what happened down in the subway this afternoon."

"Subway?" Steve parroted slowly.

"Yeah, the subway, today." Ray nodded, unsure just how much information he was going to be able to glean from the heavily drugged inspector.

"Mmmm…mike…where's Mike?" Steve asked anxiously, surprising the IA officer that even heavily sedated and unable to see that Keller's first concern was for his partner as Steve asked, "He-he…okay?"

"Yeah, Stone's fine," Ray tried to reassure the suddenly agitated young man as the beeps of the heart monitor started to race, "he wasn't hurt, in fact, he's down at the station, right now, answering some questions about why _he_ shot _you_ this afternoon."

"Mike … shot me?" Steve slurred, frowning in confusion, unable to make sense of what he was being told through the fogginess that filled his head.

"Yeah, your partner shot you," Ray nodded anxiously as he heard more footsteps walk past the closed door.

"Www…why?" Steve mumbled, sleepily as the sedatives he was being given began to pull him back under.

"That's what we need to know, Inspector." Ray told him gently before asking, "Can you think of any reason why he might have shot you?"

Steve shook his head as his eyes slowly closed.

Shaking Steve's shoulder again, aware that he was fighting a losing battle as Keller began to lose consciousness, Ray whispered, "Come on. Keller, I need you to talk to me. We need to know if the shooting was an accident or not? Or if it wasn't, then the reason why Stone tried to kill you today? Come on, Keller, don't go to sleep not yet. I need you to wake up and talk to me. I need to know why Stone shot you."

"J…jeannie," Steve mumbled softly, partially opening his unfocussed eyes again.

"Jeannie, Jeannie Stone?" Ray asked surprised, "What about Stone's daughter, Keller?"

"Don't…don't tell Jeannie," Steve mumbled as his head rolled to the side and his eyes slid closed.

Shaking Steve's shoulder harder, Ray asked desperately, "Don't tell Jeannie what? Come on, Keller, what don't you want Stone's kid finding out? That Stone shot you because of her?" Ray paused and frowned, staring down at the unconscious man before he asked softly, "Is that it?"

"Just who are you and what do you think are you doing in here?"

Ray jumped in surprise when he heard the soft, angry voice behind him and spinning around, he found himself staring at a stern matronly, no-nonsense looking nurse who was standing in the doorway, arms crossed, waiting for an answer.

Reaching into his pocket, he fumbled for his ID wallet, before pulling it free and flicking it open, showing his badge and police ID as he stuttered, "My name's Vernon, Inspector Ray Vernon, I'm from Internal Affairs with the San Francisco Police Department. I-I was just asking Inspector Keller a couple of questions about his shooting this afternoon."

Crossing to the side of the bed to check on her patient, she stopped and stared at him shocked, "Questioning him? He's in no condition to have any visitors, let alone to be answering any questions! Who the Hell gave you permission to come in here and question him against the doctor's explicit orders that he was not to have any visitors?"

Ray swallowed hard, "Umm… there…there was no one at the desk for me to ask, so-"

"So, you decided that you could just waltz in here and question him, anyway." The nurse demanded, glaring at him as she reached for Steve's wrist.

"I…um…I-" Ray started to stutter.

"Just get out of here, before I decide to call your superiors and security!" The nurse ordered before she looked down at her watch and began to count the soft thumps beneath her fingertips.

"I - I'm sorry, I'm going," Ray apologized weakly as he began to back towards the door, silently cursing his partner for placing him in this situation.

"And the next time that you decide to question one of my patients, ask first instead of just waltzing in here!" the nurse growled as she gently released Steve's wrist and glared back up at him.

"I-I will." Ray stammered as he backed out of the door and allowed it to close softly after him. Swallowing hard, he stared at the closed door as Steve's fading words as he succumbed to the sedation echoed in his head. The young inspector seemed worried that Stone's daughter would discover that Stone had shot him. Biting his bottom lip, he found himself wondering why. Was Keller worried about Stone's daughter reaction about her father's accidental shooting of his partner, or was Lou right, and there had been something going on between Keller and his partner's daughter, something that Stone did not like?

* * *

**Chapter 9**

* * *

Leaning against the coffee table, Lou took another slow sip of his coffee. Lowering his mug, he watched the young woman he had left sitting alone in the interrogation room. He could see her staring at Stone's written statement and the photos of Keller lying, bleeding and unconscious, on the ground of the subway that he had deliberately left scattered across the table. A satisfied smile tugged at his lips as he saw lift her hand and wipe away a tear before she wrapped her arms around herself and looked away from the table to stare at the wall in front of her.

It was only a matter of time before she cracked and admitted that something was going on between her and Keller. Something that her father didn't like or approve of. Something that almost got the young Homicide inspector murdered today by his partner… her father…

"Lou!"

Turning towards the anteroom door that lead into the Homicide bullpen, Lou watched his partner skirt around the empty desks until the younger man reached him. Frowning, he glanced down at his watch before looking back up at his partner, "I thought I told you that I wanted you to interview Keller!" he growled in annoyance.

"I did," Ray told him softly as he reached past his partner and poured himself a mug of coffee "but I got caught by the nurse and told in no uncertain terms to leave."

"Damn!" Rodger's muttered, disappointed.

"They have him heavily sedated, probably because of the head injury, so he was pretty confused anyway," Ray added as he added cream and sugar to his mug and gave his coffee a quick stir. Looking at the change jar, he shrugged and turned around, taking a sip of his coffee before he glanced at his partner, "But it wasn't a complete waste of time."

"It wasn't?" Rodgers asked, turning to look at his partner.

"You might be right, Lou, about Keller and Stone's daughter." Ray told him softly, as he glanced around the bullpen, watching the inspectors who had not yet left for the day pretending to be absorbed in their work.

"Really?" Lou looked at his partner. "Why?"

Ray smiled, taking a small sip of his coffee before he looked sideways at his partner, "Even though he was heavily sedated and really confused, Keller was worried about Stone's daughter and her finding out that Stone had shot him. It was almost as if he was worried that she would blame herself…"

Looking back at the young woman sitting in the interrogation room, Lou grinned, "And I think we both know why."

Glancing at Jeannie in the interrogation room before returning his attention back to his partner, Ray asked, "So what do you want to do now?"

"Let's send Stone's kid home. Let's give her some time alone to think about what her father did today and the reason why." Looking around the bullpen, he tilted his head in the direction of Lee Lessing's desk where the young inspector was busy typing out some sort of a report. "Get Lessing to take her."

"And then?" Ray asked, taking another sip of his coffee.

"And then, my friend, we are going to have an interesting little chat with Lieutenant Michael Stone about the attempted murder of his partner down in that subway today. Rattle his cage a little and see just what happens. " Lou answered before drinking the last mouthful of his coffee. Taking the half-drunk mug of coffee from his partner's hand, he half turned around, placing the two dirty coffee mugs back on the table behind him. He turned back and watched as Ray took his not so subtle hint and walked across to Lessing's desk to order the Homicide inspector to take Stone's daughter home.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

Rising from his chair as the interrogation room door opened, Mike demanded, "Where's Jeannie?" as the two IA agents entered the room and closed the door firmly behind themselves.

"Take it easy Stone, she's safe. We had a nice, interesting little chat about you, her and your partner." Glancing theatrically down at his watch as he walked across to the table before looking back up at the agitated Homicide lieutenant who was glaring at him from the other side of the table, "And if my watch is accurate, Lessing should have delivered her home by now." Dropping the three files that he was carrying onto the table, he cast an almost disinterested glance at Olsen and Markin, the union rep, who were both standing protectively on either side of Stone. Returning his attention back on the lieutenant as he reached into his coat pocket and withdrew his notebook and pen. Flicking open his notebook, he softly ordered, "So, why don't you sit down, so we can get started."

Feeling Rudy lightly squeeze his elbow, in a silent signal of support, Mike took a deep breath and sat back down as both Rudy and Carl Markin sat down beside him.

Taking his own seat, as Ray walked around the table and settled himself against the windowsill behind the three officers, Lou opened one of the files and removed one of the typed papers from within, which Mike recognized immediately was his own initial report about the shooting, before placing it in front of him. Clasping his hands and placing them on top of Mike's statement, Lou began, "Okay Stone, let's start at the beginning after you and Keller received the tip about Edwards's whereabouts, and don't you dare leave a single detail out!"

Mike nodded before he began to go over his statement again, "Steve and I received a tip off from one of Steve's snitches that Edwards was hiding out in an old abandoned flop house on Washington Street, just off Montgomery. I took the front while Steve took the back. After identifying ourselves, Edward tried to make a break for it and we chased him into the subway on Montgomery where he fired a couple of rounds at us before Steve followed him into the tunnel."

"And where were you when Keller followed an armed and dangerous suspect into the tunnel? I was taught in the police academy that partners are supposed to back up partners in this kind of situations or has that changed in the last few years I have been doing this job?" Rodgers asked coldly as he looked up from the notes he was jotting down.

Swallowing hard as he felt a rush of guilt crush over him, threatening to drag him back into its depths as the knowledge that he had not even been with Steve to cover his back when Steve had caught up with Edwards slammed into Mike's mind. Unable to look the IA officer in the eye, he answered softly, "Steve was…was leading the chase… they both had a bit of a lead on me."

Rodger's nodded as he glanced down at Mike's statement before he looked back up at the upset lieutenant, "So, you have already told us." He paused for a heartbeat before he added, "But that long a lead? I mean, come on Stone, you have to admit that it's a bit suspicious that you let your partner and a suspect get a big enough lead one you that you weren't able to back your partner up when he got into a tussle over his weapon with the suspect. Hell, Stone, you were still too far away to even back your partner up when his weapon discharged not once but twice during his fight to regain possession of the weapon, killing the suspect. And I have to ask myself why? I then I find myself asking the question that maybe, just maybe, you saw an opportunity to take out your partner and maybe you were hoping that Edwards would take care of Keller for you. Especially after the chats we just had with Keller and your daughter. And then when Edwards didn't, you decided to take Keller out yourself and claim it was an accident!" Leaning closer across the table, Rodgers added softly, "You see, Stone, we know about the relationship between Keller and your daughter, it's amazing what someone will let slip when they are drugged," he lied. "And we know that's the reason why you tried to kill your partner today."

"Rodgers, that's enough! You're out of line!" Markin growled, rising to his feet.

"What do you mean, you had a little chat with Keller?" Rudy demanded, shocked at the I.A officer's admission that they had interviewed a heavily sedated officer who was in critical condition in the ICU, probably without the medical staff's permission or knowledge.

Mike's face went as white as a ghost, shocked at Rodgers's accusation, "No, you're wrong, I..I-" he stuttered.

"Don't say a word, Mike! Not until we get you a lawyer!" Markin cut him off, glaring furiously at the IA man sitting calmly across the table from them. Pulling Mike to his feet, he steered the shocked man around the table and towards the door with Rudy following closely as he announced, "This interview is over!"

Ray jumped as the door slammed hard behind the trio after they stormed out the room and he looked back at his partner who was sitting at the table with a smug smile on his face. "Well, that certainly rattled a couple of cages," he breathed.

"Yeah," Rodgers laughed as he looked back at his partner. "It did, didn't it!"

* * *

**Chapter 10**

* * *

"I came in to do the quarter hourly obs and I found an Internal Affairs officer standing over the bed, physically shaking him, attempting to get him to answer his questions about the shooting despite the fact that it was quite clear that the patient was no longer even conscious or even able to respond." The nurse told the surgeon about what she had found going on between her patient and the San Francisco police department Internal Affairs officer when she had entered her patient's room to check on her patient.

"And you said that the IA officer was shaking him in an attempt to wake him up?" the surgeon growled as he lifted his patient's eyelid and shone a small torch into his eye, watching the pupil barely react before allowing the eyelid to close and doing the same with the other eye.

"Yes, he was trying to wake him up to get him to answer a question about someone called Jeannie. I told him to get out and stay out!" she continued as she removed the stethoscope from her ears and gently released the BP cuff from around her restless patient's arm before she looked across at the surgeon and murmured, "150 over 90."

"Both pupils are slow to react," the surgeon sighed as he dropped the torch back into his pocket and glanced up at the slower than normal green dot that danced traced across the heart monitor screen before looking at the nurse and agreeing with her initial assessment when she had paged him to the unit, "You're right, he's showing signs of an increase in the intracranial pressure, probably the result of the officer's unauthorized interrogation technique. It's not the first time that one of Lieutenant Rodgers's partners has decided to circumvent one of my medical orders and carry out their own little questioning session with a wounded or critically injured officer without my consent and I doubt it will be the last."

"So, it sounds like you've run into these two IA officers before?" the nurse frowned distractedly as she silently counted each breath Steve took before looking back up at the surgeon back up at the surgeon and adding. "Resps are thirty and shallow."

"Rodgers, yes, his new partner, no." the surgeon answered before adding, "Let's just say that Rodgers and his last partner may have had reputation among SFPD officers of thoroughly investigating whatever or whoever they are investigating, but as far as I could see, they were no more than uncontrolled mavericks who believed they could do what they wanted to get the job done." Looking down at the restless man in the bed, he sighed, "And it looks like even though Rodgers may have a new partner, nothing has changed." Shaking his head in disgust, he changed the subject as he looked back down at his critically ill patient, "Okay, let's elevate the head of the bed to thirty degrees and increase his sedation. I want his respiration and heart rate monitored closely; we may have to place him on life support. Also, let's start him on some anti-seizure medication in addition to the diazepam we are using for sedation, the last thing he needs is to start seizing because of the elevated pressure."

The nurse nodded as she reached behind the top of the bed and gently raised it up until she felt the bar beneath the adjustable frame slip into the third notch indicating that the top section of the bed was now rested at a thirty-degree angle.

The movement of the top of the bed being raised was enough to rouse their patient from his restless sleep and Steve opened his eyes and his head in the direction of the surgeon's voice as he softly began to call out, "M-mike?...Mike?"

Reaching down, the surgeon lightly rubbed his patient's arm as he answered gently, aware that they had had this conversation before and that they would have it several times again during the next couple of days until the swelling and pressure in the young inspector's head subsided, "It's okay, Steve, just relax. I'm Doctor Ryan, one of the doctors who are treating you. You're in the Intensive Care Unit of San Francisco General Hospital. You were shot in the chest during an arrest and then hit your head when you fell. That's why you can't see…"

"M-mike! Mike!... Where's… Mike!" Steve asked, his agitation growing as he began to struggle weakly against the surgeon's light hold, his fear and confusion evident as he continued to call for Mike.

"Nurse, 5 mgs of diazepam, IV, Stat." the doctor ordered softly, ignoring the racing beeps of the heart monitor as he gently grabbed Steve's shoulder and pushed him back against the pillows, "Easy, Steve, easy. Your partner's fine, he's at home, probably sound asleep in bed by now, " the doctor murmured as he glanced up and watched the nurse carefully and slowly inject the contents of a syringe into the IV line before looking back as his patient, "Your partner's safe, Steve, he wasn't hurt."

"No…no… he said…he said…Mike …Mike shot me… Mike…tried…tried to…" Steve shook his head, fighting against both the doctor's firm grip and the strong sedative that was now coursing through his veins, as he began weakly called for his partner again, "Mike!... where's… where's Mike!"

Staring down at his patient as Steve's desperate calls for his partner faded away and his eyes slowly, the doctor sighed loudly as he felt his patient slowly relax beneath his hands as the sedation took full effect before he gently released his light hold. Looking back up at the nurse, standing on the other side of the bed, he ordered, "I want a security guard posted outside his door and no-one, and I mean _no-one,_ and that includes any Internal Affairs officers who decide that they can waltz in here anytime they like to question him, are to be allowed into this room to visit him or question him without my explicit permission! Is that understood?"

"Yes, doctor." The nurse nodded before she turned and hurried out of the room.

Looking back down at his now heavily sedated patient, the surgeon felt his blood boil at the late-night, unsanctioned inquisition of his critically ill patient and he released another soft angry growl. Tomorrow heads would roll, he would make sure of it, he promised himself silently, before he turned and followed the nurse out of the room.


End file.
